This invention relates to a resin composition characterized in that a resin compound in which a rubber material is compounded can be directly treated with electroplating, the resin composition being suitable particularly for injection molding.
Today, plated plastic products are being used widely for electrical parts, auto parts, etc. The most part of those plastic products are made of ABS resins. The ABS resin i.e. acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer has various types of properties.
Conventionally, in order to provide an ABS resin with a surface treatment appropriate for plating, first a conductive layer is formed on a surface of the ABS resin by means of electroless plating, and next electroplating is applied using a preferred plating material. This process is also used for polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride or the like. The electroless plating in the first stage provides a conductive layer on the surface of the ABS resin by separating copper or nickel chemically, and has a very important function for guaranteeing a high quality product. The electroless plating requires a long process, that is, degreasing.fwdarw.etching.fwdarw.catalytic process.fwdarw.acceleration.fwdarw.separating of electroless nickel or electroless copper, so that stringent liquid control and treatment are urged. For this reason, the inconvenience of the conventional process is that there may occur some bad products or unnecessarily raising the cost.
Usually, the process of this electroless plating adopts exclusively a so-called chemical etching process in which a chemical etching agent is a mixture of a high-density anhydrous chromic acid and sulfuric acid.
The mixture containing the anhydrous chromic acid has very strong oxidation particularly for the ABS resins, whilst it causes a mist since it is employed under the conditions of high density and high temperature. Because the mixture of anhydrous chromic acid is extremely poisonous for the human body, its handling and treatment require great care. Particularly, it has been clarified that release of hexahydric chrome waste produces serious environmental pollution. In order to avoid the above defects, this invention has been attained.